Nintendo on how Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club came to be, coming up with Emio’s smile

Nintendo just published a new Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club developer interview in which we learn how the game came to be, and also got insight into the making of the smile for Emio (or the Smiling Man).

Producer Yoshio Sakamoto and assistant producer Kaori Miyachi took part in the discussion. According to Sakamoto, there weren’t plans for Emio while working on the Famicom Detective Club remakes. However, after seeing Mages work on that release, he “began to seriously think about creating something new again and was motivated to write a new story.”

Here’s the full excerpt from the interview:

Did you already know that you’d be developing this game, Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club, when you were working on the remakes for Nintendo Switch?

Sakamoto: Not at all. We hadn’t decided to develop a new Famicom Detective Club game when we were working on the two remakes.

Miyachi: Sakamoto-san, after completing the development of Famicom Detective Club PART II: The Girl Who Stands Behind for the Family Computer Disk System, you said you couldn’t write any new stories, right?

Sakamoto: Yes, I did. I was declaring to the whole world my inability to keep writing – most recently I even said it in an art book. (Laughs) But the desire to create something new again was always in my heart.

I was gathering ideas in my mind, and one of the ideas I had for a long time was a scene in which the victim is found dead with a paper bag over their head, which I thought would be quite scary. So, even though I hadn’t started writing the plot at the time, I told Miyachi-san that I was thinking of a story called Emio (smiling man) and she said, “Wow, that sounds interesting!”

Wait, even though you told the world you couldn’t write anymore? What changed your mind?

Sakamoto: While I worked on two remakes with MAGES., they became much more than just remakes. Seeing the broad range of expressions and potential to take the animation quality even higher, I began to seriously think about creating something new again and was motivated to write a new story.

Miyachi: A few months after I first heard about it from Sakamoto-san, I asked him, “How is the story about Emio going? I’m looking forward to it!”

Sakamoto: I interpreted this how I wanted: “Someone I’ve always wanted to rope into development is asking me these questions… I see what this means. She must want to be part of it!” (Laughs) So I thought I’d better get serious about writing this story.

Miyachi: I never said I wanted to be part of the development. I was just genuinely looking forward to it. (Laughs)

Sakamoto: I couldn’t develop an entirely new title by myself, but if Miyachi-san was willing to work with me, and if MAGES. wanted to create it together with us, I felt that now is the time to jump in, and I started writing the plot.

Shortly after this part of the discussion, we get to hear from Miyachi about making Emio’s smile in Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club. Miyachi came up with a number of ideas, but Sakamoto combined the eyes and mouth from two of the drawings for the prototype.

Miyachi said:

Miyachi: … Come to think of it, one of the many crazy demands was to draw lots of smiling faces.

I drew several, casting my mind back to my childhood and even drawing some with my non-dominant hand. In the end, he combined the eyes and mouth from two of my drawings, added a nose, and that image was used as the prototype for the smiling-face paper bag that appears in key scenes. (Laughs)

Emio – The Smiling Man: Famicom Detective Club launches for Switch tomorrow, August 29. We have more coverage here and you can read the full interview here.